Innovation Through hub and Spoke Model: E-Commercializing Regional India's Handicraft Industry.

Innovation serves a steppingstone for re-instigating growth in the indigenous industries of developing countries. One such sector which accounts for one of the largest employment generation opportunity in India is the handicraft sector. The informal sector, which includes handicrafts, has been described by the International Labour Organization (ILO) as a part of economic activity characterized by certain features like reliance on local available resources and skills, family ownership, small scale operations, labour intensity, traditional technology, skills generally acquired outside school system, unregulated and competitive markets. This study aims at understanding the challenges the Indian handicraft market is facing and highlighting the current practices adopted to tackle them. The handicraft sector today is faced with a lot of challenges ranging from unorganized marketing and inadequate market information to lack of support mechanism for product development. The study adopts a case-based methodology involving primary sources such as field interviews with the key stakeholders of the industry within North Indian region as well as secondary sources including publicly available information about competitive ventures and government interventions. The hub and spoke model is a significantly popular industry tool for dealing with the problems similar to the ones faced currently by the handicraft industry. A similar model was adopted and its compatibility within our problem statement was evaluated. Findings revolved around the fact that how incorporating a simple hub and spoke based model coupled with appropriate technological intervention could address the identified challenges. It also highlights how exchange of information through a digital marketplace can bring about sustainable change in an otherwise ailing industry. We conclude the paper with the proposal of a hub and spoke model custom-made for the North Indian sector, in an attempt to reinvigorate the regional handicraft business through innovative intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]